


Digital Dreams

by AUO



Category: Fate/EXTRA
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, only super shippy if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-14 00:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2171226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AUO/pseuds/AUO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The fondest memory Hakuno has is not of any victory, but of a simple scene - one so completely mundane and such a usual occurrence that the instances melt into each other, creating one singularity, one picturesque moment of absolute contentedness that seems to rest at the core of her data.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Digital Dreams

The fondest memory Hakuno has is not of any victory, but of a simple scene - one so completely mundane and such a usual occurrence that the instances melt into each other, creating one singularity, one picturesque moment of absolute contentedness that seems to rest at the core of her data.

It is a scene painted blue, a dark navy blue, only broken by the silvery glow of artificial moonlight and the scarlet cloth of her servant's clothing. A looming wall of stacked desks took up one side of the otherwise barren room, red cloth tossed haphazardly onto it in such a way that there was no doubting Archer's involvement. The trinkets they received from Taiga were also there, the volume of treasures varying as the similar memories flowed into and away from each other - the only constant being the framed picture of the two, even when recalling memories from before it existed - though always scattered about as design a la Archer more often than not dictated. By all accounts, it was an unappealing room.

She wished she could see it one last time.

And, in that woefully unwelcoming room, wedged between the towers of precariously balanced desks, sat the crown jewel of her precious memory himself, steel toed boots kicked up on another desk - a setup that could only questionably qualify as a chair, much less a bed. But even so, there he slept, completely dead to the world before she even stepped foot into the room.

The first time it happened, she hadn't thought he was sleeping. How could she? He slept upright, arms folded tightly against himself, head bowed in a way that made him look deeply troubled rather than unconscious. It was only when her musings were met with only silence and soft, barely voiced breaths, that she realized Archer wasn't invincible and was, in fact, exhausted.

And so she would end her days listening to him just... breathe. Whether she lay on the futon in the middle of the room, beside his "throne" gently holding the end of his red coat as she dozed, wedged beside him, or finally - in those final precious days together - curled against his chest, his arms folded still, crushing her to his body in a way that should have been uncomfortable but instead was warm and safe - home, even more so than their warehouse of a room - the sound of his breathing was her lullaby - always.

She wished she could hear it one last time.

To say his breathing pierced the silence would be inaccurate. Rather, it seemed to meld with the night, attaching itself to the very fabric of the Moon Cell, somehow weaving into the strings of 1s and 0s without losing its organic sense of self.

And so she ended her days to the sound of his breathing. And so she woke to it too, the next day. And so on and so forth, the only constant of her existence.

It was the firmest happiness she had known.

So long as he breathed, so too did she.

And it was those memories she clung to as she stepped into the Moon Cell without fear, despite Twice H. Pieceman's warning.

She would never hear it again.

She was a Holy Grail herself, in a way. Existing without being either "born" or even "created". An anomaly simply existing. Filled with nothing but the dreams, wishes, and good intentions of all those she had met in her brief existence. Perhaps that, more than being a system anomaly, is why the Moon Cell chose to absorb her - to take back the desires of man that had been stolen from it.

...It was quiet.

As her breath was stolen, as her existence was nullified, it was uneventfully quiet.

She makes her wish - the grand wish to end this digital Grail War - in unsuited silence.

Her passing was not anguished as her competitors had been. When they went, they seemed to be drowning, clawing for air - for existence - that simply did not exist. Like they were breathing in the void until nothingness was all that they were. But what she was experiencing - was perfectly natural. She breathed in the digital sea like it was her purpose in life. And although she could feel herself unraveling at the seams, being pulled back into her source code, it felt more like going home than anything.

Except, her home was not blue nor vast nor empty, and it especially was not fake. No, her home was red and black, holding her tight enough to crush, filled with justice, pessimism, cynicism, and bitter sarcasm, all backed by good intentions, and absolutely, positively, undeniably, _real_ despite what anyone said or what was lost to time. And that home - her home - was very, unbearably, far away.

"Hold on, something seems a little off. If that's how it's going to be, why did I bother coming?" a gruff voice sounds. She feels something then, a strange tightening sensation. It cannot be a physical response - her body is long gone. She realizes, bittersweetly, that it must be the core of her being. The thing that shouldn't exist, a programming error, something that was neither "born" or "created", belonging to neither her real self or the Moon Cell, but over time "developed" - something wholly her own. In essence - her heart.

"When a Master disappears, their Servant disappears, too, until they are summoned again. I thought I'd stick around and help out until we both fade away, but it seems I was worrying about nothing," he says, sensing her confusion, then adds, "Besides, didn't I already tell you? I promised to be by your side until you can express your wish."

Her chest tightens again. There's nothing she wants to tell him specifically - all sentimentalities were exchanged even before fighting Leo - but she still wishes there was some way to express her gratitude for him being there, being there for her through thick and thin no matter what, actually, but especially for being there until the bitter end. Instead, she finds herself not even being able to think straight, searching for a depth of feeling that is being undone, and only coming up with confusion as she already expressed her wish.

"Don't struggle too hard, Master," he says. "We're still connected as Master and Servant, and that connection is only amplified in the Grail as we lack physical boundaries. As for your confusion... As I said, I will be here until your wish is fulfilled. The wish you already made... Well, that was more of "a wish for all humanity", wasn't it? When you are defeated in combat or your wish is fulfilled... That is when our contract expires. And, no offense to the Moon Cell, but I don't think even the omnipotent could crush your will at this point. Denying certain death is a talent of yours."

He peppers his words with a good dose of dry humor, but she can feel herself almost done being unraveled, and ready to be absorbed back into the Moon Cell's code. With her last burst of energy, she sends the data of her "real" self to the third of the Nameless Musketeers and only survivor, Rani. It is selfish, and a whim rather than a wish, but whether the girl finds her or lives on her own, it feels good - if a bit narcissistic - to give that dreaming girl a chance at existing. With that, the faker, the anomaly, who uses the identity of Hakuno Kishinami is able to fade in peace.

"Leaving the future to your real self once you wake up, huh? I see... I guess we're more alike than I thought."

If she could, she would smile at those words. No - rather, she would smile at the chance of a future she saw in the world. That hope, too, was something hidden from the objective Moon Cell; a hope born of her own heart based on her own observations and subjective analysis. That, no matter what, there were people who would fight to change the world, to keep it alive... A sense of pride washed over her as she realized that her fading into the Moon Cell would be able to solidify that wish as a true potential future.

Archer prattled on for a bit more, and then was silent. All words were exhausted - there was nothing more left to express the infinity of the bond between them. And so, just as every day had ended since the spark of her existence, her final day too ended to the sound of Archer's breathing.

Being absorbed wasn't so bad. As her strings of data unfurled and rejoined the Moon Cell, it was less "disappearing" or "dying" and more "dissolving". Just as sugar dissolves into water, so did she feel herself melding her own consciousness with the infinite sea of data that was the Moon Cell. To say she existed was both correct and incorrect. She was a dispersed collection of data, interacting separately from one another, and yet - part of her consciousness still remained, seemingly held together by the smallest of breaths that assured her that against all odds, Archer was still with her.

It was a small part of her being, a tiny wish from the bottom of her digital heart. A dream of seeing the ocean from the shore, and feeling the warmth of a real sun. A scene of blue, bright Caribbean blue, broken only by silvery white sand and the scarlet of a familiar and dearly beloved person's clothing. It was a simple wish fueled by her only comfort - a wish to live an uneventful life with Archer.

Holding on to that image, she finally let her consciousness drift in the current of the digital sea, with nothing but her dream of the surface and Archer's soft breathing to anchor her to her original existence. She did not know if such a wish could be granted, but until it was, she was content just hearing him breathe.

**Author's Note:**

> Hm.... I know the game implies that being absorbed is the same as dying to Hakuno, however, I thought it was imperative to make the distinction between being absorbed and deleted. I see Hakuno being absorbed more along the lines of Aerith joining the lifestream in FFVII; she's still there, just part of a higher consciousness and definitely not "alive". I think it's... happier than her existence simply being nullified.


End file.
